The Philadelphia Flyers have traded defenseman Nicklas Grossmann and the rights to defenseman Chris Pronger to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for center Sam Gagner and a conditional pick in 2016 or 2017.
Nicklas Grossman dealt to Coyotes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Give it up to Flyers GM Ron Hextall for creatively finding a way to shed two burdensome contracts (combined cap hit of over $8.4 million) while adding an affordable depth forward ($3.2 million cap hit) in Gagner. Hextall isn’t out of cap hell just yet, as he’s carrying over $65.7 million in cap payroll, but he’s in better shape now than he was at the start of today. He might not be done, as Luke Schenn, Mark Streit or Andrew MacDonald could also be shopped in cost-cutting deals.
As for the Coyotes, they have plenty of cap space to absorb Grossmann’s and Pronger’s contracts. Pronger, of course, is all but retired and will never skate with the Coyotes, but Grossman will provide experienced depth to their young defense corps. With over $37 million invested in payroll, the Coyotes still have plenty of room to take on more salary.
If Pronger is on LTIR his salary wont count against the cap.
http://offsidesportsblog.blogspot.ca/2012/02/nhl-cba-chris-prongers-contract-one-for.html
So is Arizona taking him off LTIR ??
Pronger comes off LTIR at the end of the regular season. The only way he gets put back on LTIR is if the Coyotes need the cap space. That’s not going to be an issue for them. Adding Pronger helps them reach the cap floor.
Thanks. So everyone on LTIR comes off at the end of each season and then is put back on if need be by a specific date.
I have learned more today, always a good thing.
Thanks
Yep. Like the Bruins with Savard, he’s on the books during the off-season and then is put on LTIR once the season begins.
The hell part of it is that teams can only go 10% above the cap in the off-season, so even though Philly & Boston knew that Pronger & Savard wouldn’t count against the cap in the season, they had no wiggle room in the off-season to sign UFAs, etc.
You mention that PHI “isn’t out of cap hell just yet”, but a quick check of nhlnumbers shows them with 12 forwards and 7 defensemen under contract. Needing only a backup G and with ~$7M to play with – sounds good to me, unless I’m missing something.
Philly still wants to sign Del Zotto, which will cost at least half of their remaining space even if they take him to arbitration. Add in a backup goaltender and few depth forwards they’d like to re-sign (VandeVelde, Ryan White) and their cap space is gone. They might deal another defenseman, but that will depends on how their young D prospects look coming out of training camp.
It makes obvious sense why they did it (in fact, from a management/money perspective it is genius), but I still can’t help but feel that the Pronger situation is becoming a joke.
Pronger situation is odd. Old boys club situation?
No idea why two of the most powerful owners (Boston, Phila) allowed this ridiculous situation to continue with the new cba. If a guy is hurt and needs to retire like, Savard, Horton or Pronger you send him to an independent / league doctor. If the doc agrees he can’t play again then he comes off the cap / roster. It should be that simple. Who would argue that? This charade is ridiculous.
I will say that its a great move for the Flyers. To say that a player on LTIR does not count against the cap is simply incorrect. If the Leafs become competitive over the next couple of years they will feel the pain the Flyers and Bruins have been going through.
The Pronger trade is ridiculous. Why in the world would the NHL allow it & why would any team help out another team? All Arizona needed to do was sign an aging UFA to a ridiculous contract, at least they would get some productivity out of that player. People wonder why the NHL is so bush league
Arizona did this because they are a team that doesn’t make much, if any, money. Prongers cap hit is almost 5 million but his actual salary the next two seasons is under 600k per year. That’s an easy way to help get to the cap basement without spending much at all and no real long term commitment.